[BigBubbleButt]

> I think if you succeeded in making a game that successfully simulated the experience of poverty, it would be extremely unfun to play.

I don't think you're someone that plays many videogame simulations, as the whole point is making something fun that's inherently boring in real life. There are so many popular simulators for famously mind-numbing jobs: farming, janitorial services (and further niches within this including powerwashing), driving for hours on an empty desert road (both as a trucker or as someone that's just bored), and more.

Here's a great game that simulates trying to survive in an imaginary Soviet country. You pretty much always die, are coerced to murder people as part of your job, and usually watch as your family starves or freezes to death despite your best efforts to keep them alive. And you know what? I honestly think it's one of the best videogames ever made.

https://papersplea.se/

If the goal is to actually present the experience of poverty, then yeah it would be unfun to play by design. I wouldn't want that job in Arstotzka either, even if the game is fun to play. I'd also never want to be a truck driver, but I love the idea of doing it in a videogame.

[t-3]

Uh, powerwashing, (sand,dry ice, etc)-blasting, is actually fun in real life. If I could get a job doing only that, I would totally do it. Janitorial work is actually pretty engaging and fun, it's the having to do it EVERY DAY for almost nothing and being disrespected and socially maligned for it that sucks! Driving is also fun!

[lelandfe]

And there’s a whole range of games intentionally meant to not be fun - there are sad games, like That Dragon, Cancer. There are meditative games, games that will make you angry, and more. Video games are art!

The person making this poverty simulator game could add a fun ludonarrative angle to it like Papers Please - or it could aim to be realistic and encourage empathy for those suffering. This War of Mine is an example that strikes a balance between the two.

[klyrs]

While I have never understood the existence of games like Long Haul Trucker, they do exist.

[vmception]

I ran across a stream of a guy playing Euro Truck Simulator and it was hilarious

The host was hilarious and the commenters were all amused by how oddly therapeutic and also anxiety inducing it was